Infinite Loop —

Mysterious minuscule Apple-branded display emerges

What could Apple be doing with a 3x3cm display? We're not all that sure, but …

Images are currently shooting through the tubes of the Internet showing a mysterious 3cm (1.18") square LCD display that clearly show a cable marked "Apple copyright 2009" with the apparent part number 821-1038-01. The images come from an article on Apple.pro, a Chinese-language site that, according to Mac Rumors, has released images of one other Apple part before a device using the part was ultimately revealed.

Speculation has arisen as to what the display could be used for, and the translation of the originating website shows guesses including an iPod Touch nano, an iPod Touch shuffle, or even an "iWatch." The screen's small size and square aspect ratio, as many have pointed out, more or less rules it out for use in the currently 16:9 formatted iPod nano line. Likewise, the 3x3cm screen would be a downgrade in screen real estate for the current iPod Classic line, which sports a 2.5” diagonal screen. The device is also much too small to use as a bluetooth multitouch surface, something that has been bandied about in the past.

If you discount unsubstantiated rumors about an iPod Touch nano, which in all honesty sound a bit silly to us, that leaves the currently screen-less iPod Shuffle as a home for the mystery display. If Apple could come up with a sufficiently cheap model of the Shuffle, with a screen, that would make some sense. It would, however, be a definite departure from the current model that Apple still touts as the "worlds smallest music player" in which small and simple seems to be the ultimate design goal. The current LCD would make a next-generation shuffle more than twice as wide and likely weigh a significant amount more.

If this is the real deal, our money is on the iPod Shuffle as the home for this display, but the length of the cable leads in the picture seem a bit long (even if folded) for such a tiny device. Give us your best guess in the comments—both ludicrous and realistic—as to what Apple has for this tiny little screen.

iWatch will be a new phone for Verizon. This is the product coming in September. I know this from ...impeccable... sources.

While wearing the iWatch, you will stick your index finger on your ear, and put your pinkie near your mouth (note that the antenna will be free from the death grip). The iWatch will automagically transmit sound up your index finger, and use your pinkie for a mic. Boom.

Probably the remote idea is on point. If not, I like the idea of a secondary iPhone display, for perhaps a clamshell version. And since I like it, I'm sure that's not what Apple is doing. I'll hazard: iMouse?

Probably a status LCD for inside a printer or desktop computer even. I would think just because the screen is small doesn't mean you have to be putting it in a small device. Anyway, the shuffle likely is the best bet.